Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Wicklow Sinn Féin to Launch the No Campaign to the Austerity Treaty

Wicklow Sinn Féin have said they intend mounting a vigorous campaignin the county against what they are calling "the Austerity Treaty",and they plan on launching the No campaign at a public meeting in theRoyal Hotel in Bray on Thursday 26th April at 8pm.

Cllr. John Brady who is the Sinn Féin spokesperson on the treaty inWicklow said the treaty was bad for Ireland and stated, "With thisfiscal Treaty and their failure to renegotiate the promissory note,The EU and the Irish government have essentially signed a repo orderon the Irish Harp. This Treaty seriously undermines Irish sovereigntyby surrendering important Irish fiscal and budgetary matters tounelected and unaccountable EU officials. This Treaty drafted inmerely 3 days is incomplete. We are being asked to pass a referendumessentially signing a contract without knowing the finer detailsbecause they haven't as yet been worked out. It is hard to comprehendhow anyone would enter into a binding agreement without knowing thefull workings of it yet our Taoiseach has already signed off on it.And now the government asks Irish citizens to support a Treaty thatwill enshrine policies of austerity in our constitution andInternational law in perpetuity. This treaty will impose greaterlevels of austerity on citizens for an indefinite period of time. Itwill significantly undermine the choices available to futuregovernments to manage the State's economic affairs".

Cllr Brady continued "Additionally we are being threatened that therewill be no further money from the ECB after next year if we do notpass it. This is nothing more than an idle threat. The EuropeanCouncil will not refuse emergency funding to any Euro zone memberstate in the future irrespective of their final position on theausterity treaty. To do so would break the commitment it gave to theEuropean Council Summit on July 21st 2011 when it said it was"determined to continue to provide support to countries underprogrammes until they have regained market access, provided theysuccessfully implement those programmes". People need to remember thejobs and recovery we were promised for voting YES to the LisbonTreaty- the threats are as empty now as the promises were then"

"Sinn Féin believes this treaty is bad for Ireland and for the EU andwill institutionalise austerity into domestic constitutional law andinternational law in perpetuity. If ratified this treaty will costtaxpayers at least an additional €6 billion in public spending cutsand tax increases after 2015. It will mean more cuts to our schools,our hospitals and our community services. It will also mean morecharges and tax hikes. There will also be significant new powers givento the European Commission and European Court of Justice. It will alsoundermine the Oireachtas and give significant control over economicand fiscal policy to unelected bureaucrats and judges in Brussels andLuxembourg. And that is why the European Trade Union Confederation isopposed to the Treaty. It’s why the French Socialists, the GermanSocial Democrats and the Dutch Labour Party – all sister parties ofthe Irish Labour party, are opposed to this treaty. Austerity policieswill not end the economic crisis. Wicklow Sinn Féin will be vigorouslycampaigning between now and May 31st and asking the citizens ofWicklow to vote No to Austerity” continued Cllr Brady

Brady concluded "On 31 May, the Irish people have the opportunity toconvey their opposition to the policy of economic austerity and standin solidarity with those in Europe who are not entitled to the sameconstitutional referendum requirement. If we vote ‘no’, we will stillremain in the EU and Euro. If we vote ‘no’, we will send a strongsignal of support to our European counterparts who oppose this treatyand also challenge Europe’s conservative, austerity agenda. WicklowSinn Féin will be launching the No campaign in Wicklow at a publicmeeting which will take place on Thursday 26th at 8pm in the RoyalHotel in Bray and everyone is welcome to attend to find out moreinformation on the Austerity Treaty or to get involved in the campaignto oppose it"